The Complete Idiot's Guide to Werewolves

by Brown Robert

  In the years that followed, Ramsey did his best to control the beastly urges that tried to overtake him. For decades, he had succeeded. However, by the time of his incident at the Southend police station, Bill felt that he was beginning to lose the battle.

  After their interview, the Warrens came to the conclusion that Bill Ramsey suffered not from clinical lycanthropy or any other mental disorder, but from a form of demonic possession by some kind of malevolent wolf-spirit. They arranged for an exorcism to be conducted on Bill Ramsey, with the assistance of a local bishop.

  Regardless of what the truth of Ramsey’s condition was, one cannot argue with results of the Warrens’ exorcism. After the ceremony was performed, Bill Ramsey ceased to experience any further bouts of this uncontrollable werewolf behavior. Most of his fellow inhabitants from Southend have even learned to let bygones be bygones, and few refer to him as a werewolf any longer. In fact, it would seem that most of his neighbors, while cautious of him, felt sympathy for this man. Aside from his bouts of werewolf behavior, all accounts of Bill Ramsey have portrayed him as a kind and generous man.

  Why Are Werewolves in History?

  When one compares werewolves to any other monster in human folklore, it is interesting to note that there are far more historically documented encounters with werewolves than with any other mythical creature. While this book offers but a sampling of these historical accounts, dozens more exist. Some sources claim that, if one were to tally up every single historical mention of werewolves, the total amount would well exceed 200 incidents. Why is this so? Why do historically documented encounters not occur with such frequency when it comes to similar beings such as vampires or zombies?

  There could be any number of possible answers to this mystery. Some have argued that werewolves were for a long time used as scapegoats, for one of two reasons. In some cases, when killings were being committed by a wild animal and the animal could not be caught, it is possible that authorities would use the werewolf legend to fabricate charges against various “undesirables.” In some cases, it is undoubtedly true that the belief in the werewolf legend was used to account for how a human being was capable of committing the most inhuman of crimes. Basically, when it was impossible for the people to fathom how any person could be so diabolical, it became easier to believe that the person was a werewolf.

  So … which answer is right? They all could be right answers. Then again, maybe many of these accounts of werewolf encounters actually are real. They could all be wrong answers as well. The rebellious werewolf, even in this case, seems to refuse both categorization and classification. As usual, werewolf lore seems to insist that we decide on the truth for ourselves.

  The Least You Need to Know

  • The “Werewolf of Padua,” after insisting he had wolf fur between his skin and muscles, was dismembered by inquisitors to decide his guilt.

  • Though many sources from the time claim the she-wolf of Auvergne actually existed, modern historians view it as a folktale.

  • While Prince Vseslav of Polotsk was often called a sorcerer and werewolf by some of his rivals, it would seem that his wisdom as a ruler outweighed such accusations.

  • The case of Bill Ramsey is thought of by some as an occurrence of clinical lycanthropy, while others deem it a case of demonic possession.

  Part 3

  The Modern Werewolf

  Werewolves are no longer depicted in an exclusively negative or evil light. In fact, modern pop culture has embraced the were- wolf as a rebellious antihero. Similar to modern-day motorcycle gangs, they move and hunt and live and die as a pack, and they live outside society’s rules. Pack law is the only law. In the last century, werewolves have been embraced by every medium of pop culture. They’ve become major figures in literature, films, art, comic books, and even video games. In America, urban legends about werewolves have sprung up with increasing frequency over the last 50 years.

  Chapter 10

  Werewolves in Literature

  In This Chapter

  • Marie de France’s Bisclavret and its relationship with Arthurian legends

  • The devilish story of Wagner the Werewolf

  • Rudyard Kipling’s short story The Mark of the Beast

  • Guy Endore’s Werewolf of Paris

  • The werewolf stories of legendary author Jack Williamson

  • The “new-school” werewolves of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series

  • Remus Lupin from J. K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter series

  Unlike the history of lycanthropy, the medium of literature has grown increasingly kinder in its treatment of werewolves over the last thousand years. The role of werewolves in literature has evolved to include a diverse cast of potential character types. Some are tragic fools, while others are rather admirable antiheroes. From the twelfth century to now, what follows is a collection of primary works that makes up the canon of werewolf literature.

  Marie de France’s Bisclavret

  Written in the twelfth century by Marie de France as one volume in a series of twelve lais, Bisclavret was the first published werewolf story to be written by a female author. Marie’s story is full of the romantic elements of unjust misfortune, forbidden love affairs, and marital betrayal. This same plot, however, can also be found in other stories, including one Arthurian legend from the period as well (see Chapter 3).

  Beastly Words

  Lais (spelled lays in English) were once a very common form of romance poetry, used especially in medieval England and France. One relatively well known lai is “The Franklin’s Tale,” from Geoffrey Chaucer’s fourteenth-century work The Canterbury Tales.

  The title of the story comes from the name of its main character, Bisclavret, who was a British baron. Ever since his marriage, Bisclavret’s wife noticed that her new husband disappeared every week for a span of exactly three days. Believing that he was having an affair or was up to some other type of foul mischief, she demanded that he tell her the truth about his weekly three-day excursions. After much begging, and under threat of scandal, he agreed to reveal his secret. His answer, however, was far more unusual than anything she had imagined.

  The Curse

  It is not uncommon for characters in medieval texts, especially knights going on religious quests, to travel or perform some special action (such as a battle) over three-day periods/intervals. This is usually metaphorical reference to the three days between Christ’s crucifixion/ death and resurrection in the Christian New Testament.

  Bisclavret revealed to his wife that he was a werewolf, though only by power of a special enchantment. He went on to tell her that when he entered wolf form he concealed his clothing in a secure hiding spot because, without it, he could not return to human form. She asked him where such a hiding spot could be, and (for whatever insane reason) he told her that he hid his clothes in a large hollowed out boulder. The wife, out of either malice or disbelief, formulated a plot of betrayal.

  The next time Bisclavret went off on one of his wolf excursions, his wife approached one of her husband’s knights. She had long known that this particular knight was in love with her and used this to her advantage. She convinced the lovesick knight to retrieve her husband’s clothing from the hollow stone. He went out to find the rock and soon returned with his lord’s clothes. Three days came and went, followed by several more, and Bisclavret did not return to his estate.

  Well aware of his regular excursions into the woods, everyone in the castle assumed that Bisclavret had fallen into the jaws of some beast. No one suspected his wife of any foul play, even when she quickly remarried the knight who helped her. Meanwhile, Bisclavret remained in the woods, unable to return to his estate because he was now trapped in his wolf form.

  One year after Bisclavret’s disappearance, the king that he once served as a baron was in the woods hunting with his hounds. They soon encountered Bisclavret in his wolf form, and the hounds began to pursue him. Recognizing the hunter as his liege, Bisclavret rushed to the
king’s stirrup/foot and began to show signs of canine affection, licking his leg. The king was so astounded by this that he had his hounds restrained by his squires. He came down from his horse and petted Bisclavret. All who were present stood awestruck by the gentle nature of this wolf. The king decided to bring Bisclavret to stay with him in his castle. For some weeks, Bisclavret resided with the king and proved to be an obedient and gentle creature.

  One day, however, the knight who married Bisclavret’s deceitful wife came to visit the king. Knowing full well what this man had done, Bisclavret attacked the knight. Bisclavret was subdued, and the knight concluded his business and returned home. The wise king, having not once seen Bisclavret show so much of a hint of aggression, came to the conclusion that this knight had committed some transgression against the animal. He decided to learn the truth of this matter and soon went to visit the knight at Bisclavret’s former estate … and he decided to bring the wolf and his most wise of advisors with him.

  While at the estate, the knight had his servants escort the king and wolf into the sitting chamber. Not wanting to be attacked again, he sent his wife in to greet them. When Bisclavret saw the face of the woman who betrayed him so terribly, he went into a rage and attacked her. Before anyone could intervene, Bisclavret ripped her nose right off of her face.

  The Curse

  There are some who claim that Marie de France took the plot of Bisclavret from a similar story in Arthurian legend. On the other hand, there are some who claim that later writers of these Arthurian stories stole the plot from Marie de France and inserted it into the mix. The truth of where this story originated is still debated. In all honesty, it probably began as a folk legend, which means it belongs to humanity and cannot be credited to any single writer.

  The king’s advisor, well familiar with the always gentle nature of the wolf, pointed out that the animal had never attacked anyone. He then went on to point out that this woman was once the wife of Bisclavret, who had vanished one year before. The king considered this and decided to “question” the wife (which means he has her tortured). Almost immediately, the woman admitted to her crimes. She confessed to the plot and to convincing the knight to help her and revealed where she had been hiding the clothing Bisclavret needed to return to human form.

  The king retrieved the clothing and brought it before the wolf, who turned away from it. The king was puzzled until his wise advisor suggested that they take the clothes and wolf into his chambers so he could change in privacy. The king gave this a try, and a few moments later, the newly restored Baron Bisclavret emerged from the room.

  The king returned to Bisclavret all that had been taken from him. The knight and Bisclavret’s now noseless ex-wife were permanently exiled from the land under the penalty of death. According to the story, the female descendants of Bisclavret’s ex-wife were from that day on born without noses.

  Wagner the Werewolf (1847)

  George W. M. Reynolds’s Wagner the Werewolf (originally published with the spelling Wagner the Wehr-wolf ) was published in 1847 as a penny dreadful. The story was one of the first English stories to offer a depiction of the fictional werewolf figure. It is a story of one man’s tragic struggle to redeem the lost glory of his wasted youth.

  Beastly Words

  The penny dreadful was a popular nineteenth century form of fiction known for its lurid and sensational content. The name comes from the fact that these were cheap (usually costing only a penny), relatively short, paperback-bound stories that usually involved “dreadful” plots of crime, murder, and a fair amount of sexual content. As one might imagine, these books were primarily sold to the younger male members of England’s vast working class. George W. M. Reynolds is often referred to as “Master of the Penny Dreadful.”

  The main character of the story is Fernand Wagner, who found himself alone in the latter years of his life. He was soon approached by a dark figure by the name of John Faust, who made Wagner an offer he couldn’t refuse. If Wagner would serve him during what should be the final year of Faust’s life, then he would reward Wagner with youth, power, riches, and beauty. There was, however, a far more terrible price for these rewards than just his year of servitude to Faust. Wagner would also have to endure the life of a werewolf for the rest of his days. On the day that marked the end of Wagner’s year of servitude, Faust died and left everything promised to Wagner. However, you know what they say … be careful what you wish for … you just might get it.

  The Curse

  The name of John Faust comes from a well-known figure of fiction and theater named Faust. Faust was a sorcerer who spent his life pursuing the study and practice of the mystical arts. Wishing to benefit from this, he eventually succeeded in summoning a demon by the name of Mephistopheles, who offered to fulfill all of Faust’s desires in exchange for the man’s soul. Faust agreed, but his rewards never lived up to his expectations. The name of John Faust in Wagner the Werewolf suggests a similar fate will befall Fernand Wagner.

  Wagner soon fell in love with a cold yet beautiful woman named Nisida, who came from a familial lineage that carried with it some (originally unspecified) dark and mysterious secret. Nisida and Wagner both lived in constant fear of being discovered, which formed a strong bond between them. They knew they couldn’t remain in the Italian city of Florence for long. The pair planned to book passage to an island in the Mediterranean, where both of them could live out their lives with their secrets intact. However, Wagner’s life was soon plagued by misfortune. Only days before Wagner would again transform into a werewolf, he was arrested and taken into the custody of Inquisition authorities. Nisida, out of fear that her lover was now lost to the gallows, left without him on a ship out of Florence.

  Wagner learned that he was standing trial under the suspicion of being Faust’s murderer, and some of the judges even thought him to be a werewolf. The court found him guilty and tossed him into the Florence prison called Palazzo del Podesto. The lead judge, wanting to put an end to all talk of him being a werewolf, scheduled Wagner’s execution for the very night that he was to transform. As he was rolled before the gallows in a wagon-cell, however, Wagner transformed and broke out, shattering his iron and wood cage to pieces. Now free and under the savage influence of his wolf form, he went on a bloody nocturnal rampage through the city.

  Wagner managed to get onto a ship out of the city and began searching for the vessel that Nisida left on in the hopes of finding her. In his travels, he encountered some members of the mystic Rosicrucian Order. They explained to Wagner that only death could release him from his werewolf curse, but that (since werewolves are immortal and invulnerable) death would only come for him if he saw the bleached skeletons of two innocents that were hung from the same beam. He eventually reunited with Nisida.

  Beastly Words

  The Rosicrucian Order was a seventeenth century group of scholars, philosophers, and aesthetics who studied and collectively shared knowledge related to the secret arts of mysticism, metaphysics, and alchemy.

  Later, Wagner and Nisida were forced to journey to the land of her family when Ottoman soldiers took them prisoner. There they were brought to the house of Nisida’s brother, Francisco, where they were released. Francisco had sent the soldiers to retrieve Nisida so as to ensure that his sister would be present for his wedding (to a woman Nisida hated). Family law required that all siblings be present on that day so that a certain manuscript could be removed from its secret chamber and read aloud in order to reveal to all present the truth of that family’s dark secret.

  When they all entered the secret chamber, however, on the wall were two bleached skeletons hung from the same beam. Apparently, the bones once belonged to innocents because Wagner immediately recoiled and fell to the floor in convulsions. His darling Nisida rushed to him, and moments later he died in her arms.

  The Mark of the Beast (1890)

  Most people are more familiar with Rudyard Kipling from his 1894 work The Jungle Book, which was set in the jungles of Indi
a. Previously, however, Kipling published another story that was also set in India but involved one man’s curse of lycanthropy. Kipling titled the story The Mark of the Beast, and it was first published in a periodical called The Pioneer in July 1890. At the same time, it also received publication in The New York Journal.

  The Mark of the Beast tells the story of a westerner named Fleete Strickland, who came to India with a high level of ignorance regarding the customs, dialects, and people. Shortly after arriving, Fleete celebrated New Year’s Eve at a nearby western-styled nightspot called “The Club” and had a few too many drinks. As Fleete stumbled home in a drunken stupor, he came across a shrine to the revered Hindu Monkey God, Hanuman. Seeing that his cigar has burned down too far, he extinguished it on the Hanuman’s statue. A nearby Hindu holy man, who was also a leper, witnessed Fleete’s act of shrine desecration and lunged at him. During the struggle, the enraged holy man bit Fleete on the chest. Fleete broke free and began to run home. As the westerner disappeared down the road, another priest arrived and commented that Hanuman had not yet even begun to punish him for what he’d done.